The invention relates to an emergency locking vehicle seat belt retractor, and more specifically to a vehicle seat belt retractor having belt storage means from which a belt can be withdrawn in use against a pull imposed by retractor spring means, and an emergency locking mechanism which will lock the retractor against belt withdrawal in response to at least one of a predetermined belt acceleration on belt withdrawal and a predetermined acceleration (which term herein is used to comprehend also deceleration) of the retractor.
Satisfactory operation of such an emergency locking mechanism requires the transmission of mechanical movement, which may be dependent on the circumstances in which locking takes place, between various components of the mechanism, for example, from a first inertia device sensitive to acceleration of the reactor (and thus of a vehicle in which the retractor is secured) to a second inertia device sensitive to belt withdrawal acceleration, and from the second inertia device to a locking device.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide an emergency locking retractor having an emergency locking mechanism capable of accommodating variable mechanical movements therein.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an emergency locking retractor having an emergency locking mechanism comprising mechanically linked units of which the inputs and outputs need not be accurately matched.